Thwarting ‘toxic takers’
Anytime you thrust people together, whether work related or family related, you come across a “toxic taker.” Toxic takers poison your environment, and you need to take action against them. Here are some survival tactics.
Spoke-and-wheel goal setting
Break down a big goal into smaller pieces by envisioning a wheel and spokes. At the hub is your long-term goal. The spokes radiating from the hub are what determine your daily actions.
Put down your work and read awhile
Rather than wait for your company to foot the bill for a class or conference, turn to online sources, such as eHow.com and good-tutorials.com, or the instruction manuals shelved in your IT department.
You can learn to network like a pro
You might prefer a sharp stick in the eye over an afternoon of networking, but in tough times, you can’t afford not to cultivate a robust network. The larger your circle, the better off you’ll be. Here are a few tips from the pros.
Financial finesse is a click away
On the money front, it’s time to get back to basics. An oft-repeated piece of advice is to keep better track of the money we spend and save. To help with expense-tracking, tap into online tools. The best of the breed recently chosen by Money magazine and Slate.com are Mint.com and QuickenOnline.com.
Shake the hand that bites you: 6 ways to manage difficult people
There’s no escaping difficult, dastardly or downright nasty people at work. There’s always at least one of them floating around. While you can’t control someone’s horrible personality, you can decide how you’re going to respond. That means polishing your EMS— enemy management skills. By killing your enemies with kindness, or at least identifying their M.O. and mitigating their effects on your workplace, you can rise above their noxious influence.
Summer camp wisdom
“I live by something my summer camp counselor from Maine told me when I was 9 years old: ‘Love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe.’”
Working for a poor time-manager?
Your boss just can’t seem to get it together when it comes to managing his or her time? Your boss is always late for meetings, can’t seem to make decisions quickly and doesn’t churn out projects in a timely manner. In short, he or she is making both of you look bad. What can you do?
Does success hinge on the ‘X Factor’?
Do you aspire to work in the C-suite? You can safely assume that top executives will require a prized package of office skills. But most high-level execs say they also want assistants who have the “X Factor.” Love it or hate it, high-ranking executives want employees who can read minds, anticipate needs and supply that indescribable “something” that propels an executive toward success.
Grammar Repair Shop: Top 5 phrases to avoid
Which phrases and buzzwords have we so overused and mangled that we should stop using them altogether? Researchers at the University of Oxford keep track of books, magazines, online media and other sources to look for “irritating expressions” that ought to be retired.